That Darn Quill
by MisfiredSynapse
Summary: There, on the page, clear as day, "Lily Evans is in love with James Potter." "That darn Quill," she muttered, as he grinned.  JP/LE, 7th Year. Warning: may cause diabetes.


**Dancing Over the Fine Line.**

"Hey Evans! Hoi! LILY!" James hollered across the Common Room, bounding down from his dormitory with a gleefully giggling Sirius, a nervous Remus and an eager Peter in tow. The four of them had been strutting about quite alarmingly lately, probably something to do with the fact that Potter and Black now lived together and had had an entire summer to plot ways to drive her mad. Lily tried to ignore him, but with a head that big suddenly appearing between her and the essay she was trying to finish, it was kind of impossible.

"What, Potter?" she sighed irritably, setting her quill down and whipping the still-wet parchment out from under his arse as James, heedless of her mounting annoyance, plopped himself horizontally across the table. Although he had been behaving himself since being Head Boy, he couldn't help but revert to being the annoyingly immature James Potter once in a while.

"Sirius wants to know something," he said casually, examining his horribly bitten-back nails and nibbling on his bottom lip. He seemed fascinated with some speck of dirt as he stuck his finger in his mouth and worked on it with his tongue and teeth, making Lily grimace in disgust and more than a little anger.

"Hurry up, then! Out with it!" she snapped, wanting to speed this encounter by as quickly as possible. She could handle James Potter... in small doses.

"Are you tired?" he asked. She lowered her head into her hands, already knowing where this line of conversation was going, and James just chuckled lightly at her guess. "Yeah, should've known you'd know that one," he admitted. She couldn't help but smile and wish he'd be like this more often- amusing, but not immature, slightly cheesy without being stupidly so. "Well... he also wants to know if you could help us with something?"

"What?" she asked, instantly suspicious. It was rare for them to ask for help with anything, as between the four of them they had everything covered. Remus was their magic talent, James could transfigure anything and Sirius had a mind as sharp as a tack, which often needed the gentle cautiousness of Peter to reign in.

James held up his hands in defence. "Nothing deadly, I promise," he shot her a grin that _did not _give her butterflies and sat up properly. "We've decided to try out one of those phone-dating services the Muggles are so interested in. They're putting my name in because Peter's too chicken, Remus has a girlfriend and Sirius doesn't do long-distance."

"And you need my help, why, exactly?" she queried, genuinely curious now. What would James Potter possibly gain from entering a phone-relationship with a girl he couldn't talk to while at school, or at home, or unless he was in the presence of Remus who was the only Marauder still taking Muggle Studies?

James shifted and rubbed a hand over the back of his neck, through his hair, and back to his neck again as he looked up to Sirius and took courage in whatever he saw there. "Well... we kind of need a girl's point of view for my description... Remus _could _do it, but I say it's bloody weird having your _male _best friend rattle off your assets." Lily couldn't help a laugh at that, picturing Remus making eyes at an uncomfortable James.

"I bet he's bang on mostly, too. Observant he is," she replied, looking between the essay that was begging to be finished and James, who clearly needed her help on this.

"C'mon, Lils, you're the only girl who's opinions matter to me."

Her heart leapt to her throat and nearly strangled her. "Alright, when I'm done with Charms," she conceded. James pouted at her in a way that _did not _make her warm inside and crossed his arms over his chest, childlike.

"Now?" he asked, acting like a petulant seven-year-old. Lily, who really rather liked children, found herself unable to resist the look on his face and she sighed as she nodded. Sighing seemed to be her action of choice when it came to James Potter. It used to be screaming and tearing her hair out and uttering horrible hexes in his general direction. Now, just resigned signing.

She'd never admit it aloud, but she did kind of miss his jokes and teasing when he wasn't around. Life was dull without James in it... in small doses.

"In the dorm- we've got a Quik-Quotes, and I don't want any background noise messing this up!" James took her hands and before she could squeal or shout in protest, had pulled her up into the boys' dormitory and sat her upon one of the neatly made beds. She thought for a moment that they must've planned it, because the place was clean and not at all what she expected from four seventeen-year-old boys.

"Remus is a bit of a fuss," Sirius explained, seeing her expression and reading it correctly. "I think his mum's rubbed off on him, to be honest."

"Sod off," Remus grinned, tossing a pillow carelessly at Sirius before levitating it back to where it belongs. Lily could only smile at that, she should've figured down-to-earth Remus was the one to keep things in order. She wasn't really all that at ease in the boys' room, having never figured she'd ever more or less willingly enter it. Not too long ago, James Potter's presence had been deterrant enough. Now, oddly, it was the reason she found herself seated between a piece of paper, a Quik-Quotes and the boy himself.

"Alright," James clapped his hands, bringing their focus back to the task at hand. "You, my dearest Lilyflower, were going to describe me?"

She nodded. "James Potter will be castrated if he calls me by that ridiculous nickname ever again," she said, grinning to see that her words had been echoed in much more flowery words on the page. Sirius giggled and slapped Remus on the back.

"Good job, Moony!" At the confused looks sent their way, Sirius bestowed upon them the rare moment of seeing him, well... _serious. _"Remus charmed it so it will only ever write the speaker's true feelings. The closer to the truth, the less extravagant the writing will be. So, if you lie your arse off, the Quill will write the cold, bitter truth and then some. For example, if I told it to write- _I am a flaming homosexual..."_

The Quill began scratching... _I will shag anything with a heartbeat. Species is negotiable._

Sirius pouted, Remus howled with laughter and James had to wipe a tear from his eye. Peter edged determidely away from the scowling Sirius, who shook his fist at the Quill but was prevented from destroying it by Remus.

"Don't touch my Quill," he snapped, half serious as his best friend stared at him and made a very slow, deliberate cut-throat gesture. Lily giggled at both of them and resumed thinking of adjectives she could use to describe James, very grateful that she knew about the charm so she wouldn't say something ridiculously stupid like _I hate you, James Potter _and have that darn Quill tell him just what she really thought she maybe felt.

"Okay, when you're ready, Lils." James sat back confidently, the smirk on his face letting her know that he certainly had planned to trap her into doing this. Now he knew she couldn't lie without it being exposed for all the Marauders to read, he was quite enjoying the look of concentration and sincerity on her face.

She took a deep breath, and began. "Ambitious," she said, and the Quill wrote it exactly while James beamed, "Amusing-" the Quill wrote that too, not changing a thing. Lily smiled- "- Annoying, cheerful, determined, enthusiastic, forgiving, friendly-"

"Are you really putting those in alphabetical order?" Remus asked bluntly, slightly amused as she blushed and shrugged, having been quite unaware that she was doing it. "Sorry. Do go on, it's giving him such a boost."

James indeed looked as though he was in bliss, hearing her truthful words spilling out and being immortalised on paper. Lily rolled her eyes and thought deeply, studying the boy, and trying to think of how to explain how she felt without telling him the entire truth. That darn Quill would do that for her, she was sure. "Responsible, when you want to be. Mature too. Kind-hearted and practical. Punctual and respectful... this year." A smattering of laughter went up at that, and Lily shrugged, having run out of ideas.

"You really do love him, deep down, don't you?" Sirius teased. Lily turned on him, affronted and indignant, as she shook her head wildly and fought off the tell-tale blush.

"I most certainly _do not _love James Potter!"

She forgot about the Quill, and how it was writing her truth in place of whatever lies she told. She turned with a sense of growing dread to see what had been written. There, on the page, clear as day, _Lily Evans is in love with James Potter._ He looked up at her as Remus tactfully dragged Sirius and Peter from the room, the door shutting quietly behind them.

"That darn Quill," she muttered, as he grinned.

"You know I planned this, don't you?" he asked, playing with the sleeve of his shirt as she sighed and nodded.

"I should have known better than to play along," she sighed, standing to leave and hide her embarrassment with a few hundred pastries pilfered from the kitchens. She made it to the door before James caught her wrist and physically turned her around.

"I did this because I had to know, one way or another. I'm not applying for the phone-dating thing, that was Sirius' rubbish excuse. I just had to know what was going on inside your beautiful mind, because it's killing me being in the dark. Sometimes I swear you're flirting with me, but then I wake up in the Hospital Wing. Sometimes I swear that when I'm talking to you, the light in your eyes isn't my imagination or some mild form of contempt-"

"James," Lily whispered, trying to interrupt him.

He didn't seem to hear her as he ploughed on, seven years' worth of feelings and secrets pouring out as James Potter's heart emptied itself for her. "I swear that being around you and not having you is the hardest thing I've ever had to do. I know I've acted foolish in the past, but I promise you- no more. I've known all along that you're worth reaching for. I'm not saying I'm sorry for driving you mad because it's kept you noticing me, and that is at least something to show for all the times I've stayed awake dreaming of ways to get you to love me-"

"James," she said, a little louder. Again, it didn't work.

"- I'm here to tell you that this was it for me, I was officially going to give up. If it turned out that you truly hated me and there was no hope for me in your eyes, I would give up on you even if it sent me insane. Now I know that whatever malice there is between us, you _can _see the side of me I've tried to show you so many times..."

"Oh, bollocks," Lily muttered to herself. James finally stopped and stared at her, mouth hanging open like a fish's. "Now you're never going to give up, are you?" she asked, hands on her hips and a very authoritarian voice coming from her mouth. "I've fanned the flames, added magnesium to the fire."

"I don't know what that is," James whispered forlornly, "but I think I agree with you." She couldn't think of anything to say in reply, as she was still trying desperately to not melt as she remembered his frantic, wild-eyed speech from moments before. "Lils... if there's hope... then I'm there," James said finally, breaking into her reverie. Lily could only nod once and hold out her hand.

"So am I."

With those three little words, Lily danced over the fine line between love and loathe, tripping over her own doubts as she did so. Thank Merlin James was good at catching things that fell.


End file.
